The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for restoring the balance of the human body.
Such balance-restoring, required for many reasons, entails the performing of corrective and rehabilitation operations that could be classified as xe2x80x9cgeneral biomechanicsxe2x80x9d. Such operations are needed, in particular, in the case of immobility of the pelvic girdle, the shoulder girdle and the entire spinal column. They have also to be performed when the sacrum is being pushed back into place with respect to the iliac bones, following direct trauma or trauma induced by the lower limbs or gravitational microtraumas accompanying and aggravating old age.
Aside from these xe2x80x9cgeneral biomechanicsxe2x80x9d operations, it is also appropriate to be able to restore the postural balance of the body following dizzy spells, operations and gravitational imbalances of various origins and to completely reprogramme the proprioceptive loading patterns of the ankles and knees.
To restore the balance in such a way, recourse is also had to Western and Asian traditional natural methods for obtaining a good balance of the human skeleton, these methods being based on alternate rotations, extensions and flexions from the feet up to the head; such methods are, however, accessible only to the healthy, and are therefore essentially preventive methods, and have to be performed on a conscientious and long-term basis.
Aside from these methods, it has long been proposed that apparatuses for automatically performing the rehabilitation movements be produced.
Thus, as emerges from FR-A-2,561,911, apparatuses for stretching out the spinal column of an individual using the weight of his body have been proposed, the solution described in that document relating to a type of rocking table which allows the patient to be installed in an antalgic position.
A solution of this kind allows the treatment of patients whose intervertebral discs exhibit a compressive pathology, and also allows the stretching of arthritic hips.
It cannot therefore be used in instances where there is the desire also to perform rotational movements, particularly of the pelvis. Furthermore, a rocking table of this kind is tricky to operate and very uncomfortable for the user.
For maintaining pelvic mobility, it has been proposed, as is apparent from FR-A-2,608,057, to produce an armchair comprising a seat part which pivots in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis while the backrest remains fixed with respect to the said seat part.
An assembly of this kind therefore allows the pelvis to be pivoted in one direction or the other with respect to the fixed trunk, it being possible for the amplitude of the pivoting movement to be altered according to the treatment. Furthermore, with such an assembly it is possible to immobilize the seat part and work the joints (ankles, knees) by moving sliding blocks on which the user rests his feet.
While such an installation allows the mobility of the pelvis and of the joints to be maintained, it is not, however, suited to true restoration of balance, which entails mobilizing the skeleton in all three directions in space, with X, Y and Z coordinates.
Swiss patent 328,968, for its part, describes an apparatus comprising two devices for securing the seat of a patient, these devices being mounted on a plate which can move about a horizontal mean position. A first transmission device imparts to the plate a movement of oscillation about its axis and a second device imparts to the plate a movement of oscillation in a surface which is at least approximately in a vertical plane, and does so in such a way that the plate is given a movement which is the resultant of the two oscillatory movements.
An apparatus of this kind is therefore able to impart to a patient""s pelvis a combined movement of oscillation both in a horizontal plane and in a vertical plane, the amplitude of the oscillations of the plate in the vertical plane being adjustable prior to use.
Here again, it is not possible to truly restore the balance of the body and what is more, the concrete solution described in that document envisages means which are incompatible with a treatment of restoring the balance of the body. This is because the patient""s feet are fixed in xe2x80x9cblocksxe2x80x9d, which may endanger the knees unless the movement imparted to them is infinitely small. The presence of a pelvic strap prevents sacro-iliac mobility. Finally, the corset holding the ribcage may hamper breathing and does not allow the torso to be worked in torsion. What is more, in no way does the apparatus allow treatment in a seated position to be envisaged.
Outside the technical field of rehabilitation proper, it has also been proposed, more specifically for sports training purposes, to produce oscillating plates, which may or may not be motorized, as is apparent in particular from U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,894 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,601, it being possible for the amplitude of oscillation to be adjusted prior to use in the former of these documents, and the amplitude of oscillation being preset in the latter.
In the realm of the training of sportsmen, there have also been proposed, as is apparent from U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,603, apparatuses comprising a platform on which the user stands and which can have an alternating rotational movement in a horizontal plane imparted to them, which movement is obtained by means actuated directly by the user.
As with the documents examined hereinabove, the solutions described in these last two documents are also unable to allow the skeleton to be mobilized in all three planes in space, whether this be in a standing, seated or other position, which conditions are essential for truly restoring the balance of the body.
Now, there has been found, and this is what is the subject of the present invention, a new type of mobile platform on which the patient can be held in an upright position, a seated position or some other position, which is of a simple design, easy to operate, multi-functional, and which not only allows the mobility of the pelvis and of the joints to be maintained but also allows balance to be truly restored to the body in that it imposes mobilization in all three planes in space with X, Y and Z coordinates, allowing alternating and rhythmic compression-decompression sequences, adjustable in respect of all parameters, to be performed, such an apparatus being able fundamentally to correct imbalances in the centre of gravity of the human body located in the pelvis.
This imbalance which worsens progressively with age, because of lack of maintenance thereof, leads to the slower hesitant gaits and then the falls which ageing human skeletons experience.
The apparatus according to the invention allows all the operations that the restoring of balance to the entire skeleton entails, namely mobilization of the sacro-iliac joints, of the lumbar spine, of the thoraco-scapulo-cervical complex to be performed effectively.
This is achieved according to the invention by mobilizing the barycenters of regions of the body of seated, standing, bent, three-quarters, etc. subjects in all three planes in space with Z, X and Y coordinates. Such mobilization is achieved by a combination of lateral oscillations, pivoting across the diagonal of the girdles, alternating pelvis/trunk rotations and anterior-posterior oscillations.
All of this muscle/joint activity is brought about automatically by controlled motorization, within the physiological range of movement of the skeleton, and without any intervention on the part of the patient.
If necessary, active work may be done against some resistance in order to improve muscle dynamics.
This apparatus also allows a complete proprioceptive reprogramming of the work patterns of the ankle and knee joints.
It also allows the ankles to be rehabilitated and full range of movement restored. Furthermore, the apparatus according to the invention can be used regardless of the build of the individual.
In general, the apparatus according to the invention, and which allows balance to be restored to the human body, consists of a platform intended to support the subject to be treated and which can have an oscillatory movement imparted to it, and it is characterized in that the said platform is motorized and its oscillatory movement is imparted to it about a central support axis, this movement being combined with a reciprocating rotational movement, the amplitude and speed both of the oscillation and of the rotation being adjustable and capable of being varied during use.
The possibility of adjustment on the one hand allows the user to position himself on the platform while the platform is in a horizontal position and on the other hand allows the amplitude and speed both of the oscillation and of the rotation to be altered according to the treatment that is to be performed, it being possible for these factors to vary in a programmed way during use according to the treatment that is to be performed.
Furthermore, the structure of the apparatus according to the invention also allows the platform to be used in a horizontal plane, the oscillatory movement then being cancelled, and just the rotational movement remaining.
According to one embodiment which allows a wide variety of treatments to be performed, means are associated with this basic platform which allow at least the spinal column of the patient to be kept in a vertical position on the mobile platform.
Furthermore, hand rests are advantageously provided, it being possible for these rests to be arranged, with respect to the patient, either to the side and/or facing him and/or above him, in this last case forming a traction bar.
The hand rests will preferably be adjustable for height. Furthermore, in the case of lateral rests, they may also have a reciprocating horizontal sliding movement imparted to them.
Finally, the apparatus according to the invention is also and preferably associated with means which allow traction to be exerted along the axis of the body if necessary, particularly when the subject is held in a vertical position standing up.
In such a case, these means consist, for example, of a stationary upright in the form of a bracket supporting an element consisting of a chinstrap which allows the subject to be kept in a vertical position while at the same time allowing traction to be exerted along the axis of the body; in such a case, the chinstrap is advantageously fixed to the end of a cable subjected to an adjustable traction force, this force being exerted, for example, using a counterweight which can slide in the vertical support post or any other equivalent means.
By virtue of such an apparatus, it is therefore possible to position the patient on the platform in any configuration, whether this be standing up, crouched down, or even seated.
When the subject is treated in a seated position, a seat is mounted directly on the mobile platform. In such a case, the seat has no backrest and is in the form of a seat of the stool type on which the patient can be positioned either normally, with his legs square in front of him or with his legs to each side, as if he were sitting on a saddle. Such a seat can preferably be orientated by 90xc2x0 on each side in a horizontal plane and inclined up and down on a vertical axis, it being possible for the amount of inclination to vary, but this inclination advantageously being between 5 and 30xc2x0.